West Asia

Another blogger murdered in Bangladesh capital

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Police officials in Bangladesh say unknown assailants have hacked to death another blogger in the capital, Dhaka, amid an international outcry over brutal attacks on the South Asian country’s independent writers.

“He was brutally hacked to death this morning with big knives just 500 yards (460 meters) from his home at Dhaka’s Begunbari area,” local police chief Wahidul Islam said on Monday, in reference to the victim, identified as 27-year-old Washiqur Rahman.

Islam added that security forces have arrested a number of men who were seeking to flee the scene immediately after the attack.

Authorities say it remains unclear whether Rahman was a social media writer or another secular blogger.

“It appeared Rahman used to write using a penname, Kutshit Hasher Chhana (Ugly Duckling),” said Imran Sarker, the head of Blogger and Online Activists Network in Bangladesh.

“He was a progressive free thinker and was against religious fundamentalism,” he added.

Avijit Roy, a secular American blogger of Bangladeshi origin, was hacked to death by machete-wielding attackers at a crowded book fair in Dhaka on February 26.

Bangladeshi authorities arrested a suspect accused of affiliation to militant group Hizbut Tahrir, Farabi Shafiur Rahman, four days later at a bus station in the capital over Roy’s horrendous murder.

Rahman had threatened Roy several times previously, including on Facebook, where he said Roy would be killed upon his arrival in Dhaka, according to the Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion.

The Bangladeshi government has been urged to protect the right of writers to speak freely.

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